http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1316315,00.htmlBarack Obama has accused John McCain of hypocrisy after the Republican appeared to do an about turn on the question of negotiating with terrorists.
In an interview on Sky News two years ago, McCain told James Rubin he was willing to negotiate with the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
The Republican presidential contender told the former Clinton State Department official: "They (Hamas) are the government, sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another."
He went on: "I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy toward Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice, so...
"But it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."
But yesterday McCain criticised Senator Obama for being naive after expressing a willingness to meet with rogue leaders like Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, suggesting it reflects a "lack of judgment".
Sky's Washington analyst Jon-Christopher Bua says: "It seems that John Mc Cain's Campaign tour bus - the Straight Talk Express - is veering off course once again searching for any opportunity to gain some media attention and pander to the US electorate.
"By his calculated and hypocritical attacks against Barack Obama, McCain is chastising his likely rival for a position on Hamas that he advocated in a previous Sky News interview with Mr Rubin."
Obama has also accused George Bush of hypocrisy and scaremongering after the President's remarks before the Israeli Knesset on Thursday.
President Bush said: "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along."
Linking McCain and Bush, Obama responded today: "If George Bush and John McCain want to have a debate about protecting the United States of America, that is a debate I am happy to have anytime, any place.
"That is a debate that I will win because George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for."
Now McCain's campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds has hit back, insisting that the Republican senator has long said he would impose preconditions before meeting with Hamas or other radical groups and leaders.
He said in a statement: "John McCain's position is clear and has always been clear, the President of the United States should not unconditionally meet with leaders of Iran, Hamas or Hezbollah.
"Barack Obama has made his position equally clear, and has pledged to meet unconditionally with Iran's leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the leaders of other rogue regimes, which shows incredibly dangerous and weak judgment."
McCain has also come under fire for apparently predicting victory in Iraq and the withdrawal of most US troops by 2013.
The senator has denied that he had offered a "timetable" but Jon-Christopher Bua says: "He has previously stated that any indication of a date would be aiding and abetting the enemy and 'would be tantamount to setting a date for surrender'.
"However, in a campaign speech in Columbus Ohio on Thursday, McCain promised that if elected he would welcome home most of America's service men and women by 2013. Sounds like a timetable for withdraw to me."
